


The Doe and the Devil

by ETNMystic



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, as far as we know, cinnamon roll character protagonist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-06-14 09:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15386019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ETNMystic/pseuds/ETNMystic
Summary: Escape the Night Season 3 AU.It's in a dream that she meets him. A deal is struck, and then, she wakes up.So this whole ordeal is over for our little Jet Setter, right?Perhaps not......





	1. Once Upon a Dream.....or is it?

**Author's Note:**

> This originally started as a one-shot rebuttal to a fanfic someone on Tumblr wrote of Matpat coming back as evil. I got to thinking 
> 
> "What if we did more?"

It’s in a dream that she meets him. 

Feeling a breeze brush against the back of her neck, Rosanna opens her eyes. She finds herself outside of a white chapel building. She’s wearing a yellow beret, a plaid-patterned dress with a nearly-periwinkle collar and sleeves, yellow stockings, beige Platform Oxfords, and a green coat with poofs. 

It’s dark outside. An owl hoots causing her to yelp slightly. 

 _Where am I?_ she wonders to herself. 

None of this place feels familiar to her and she begins to tremble. She tries to take a few deep breaths.

_Come closer, little one._

A voice whispers, causing her to jump yet again. 

_Do not be afraid of me. Yet._

Yet? What did the voice mean by yet?

_Come closer, little one._

Ro looks behind her. All she can see is darkness where she’s left

She heads towards the chapel and opens the brown double door. Inside she finds more darkness. On the sides by the walls, which are patterned with dying vines, are lit platforms, each holding a strange object. On her left, a strange green statue. On her right, what looks to be a serpent’s head. Directly in front of her is an altar. 

_Rosanna._

The voice. Once again she yelps and whirls around. She turns to the doors. All of a sudden, she feels a presence on her left shoulder and she freezes in place. 

“Do not be afraid, little one.” 

It’s that voice again. Much closer to her than before. A tear falls down her face, but she tries to stay strong.

“W-Who are you?” she asks.

“I?” it asks.  
“I am a friend of a friend.”

“W-what do you want from me?” she trembles.

A laugh echoes against the walls, causing her to flinch.

“It’s not a matter of what I want from you. It is a matter of what I can do for you.”

Timidly, she turns around and backs away slightly. He looks to be a man, but he can’t be. He has horns on the side of his head and a glowing blue stone in his chest. He looks rather dangerous, but this is just a dream, right?

“What do you mean?” she asks suspiciously.

He stares at her, as if he’s inspecting her, sizing her up, if you will. But it really shouldn’t take him too long to size her up.

“You are worried about someone,” he says plainly.

This has her puzzled slightly. Not that he’s wrong. There are several people she’s concerned about, but it seems like he’s probing for one in particular. 

“Someone who has been missing.”

Now she knows.

“I am pretty concerned about him. He’s been missing for a couple months or so. But what does he have to do with all this?”

“I can help you find him.”

Ro is shocked. This guy seems so…..menacing. Why would he want to help a lil cinnamon roll?

“And I can help bring him back.”

“W—what do you mean ‘bring him back’?”

“He has died. But I can revive him.”

Part of her feels suspicious about this, but another part of her is intrigued.

“You’ll receive a letter from him, inviting you to a town called Everlock. He has made a deal with an organization to bring him back to life, but it would require you and various others dying. But I can get him AND you out alive. However you’ll have to sign this.”

With a snap of his fingers, a scroll and a blade appears.

“Is this like some sort of blood contract?” she asks, tilting her head. 

“Very clever, little one.”

She approaches it hesitantly. The scroll unrolls and she scans through it as the man continues. 

“If you sign this and succeed in following my instructions on how to get out alive, you and him will be able to escape alive. But fail to follow them………and you’ll be mine for eternity.”

A chill rushes through her. Is she making a deal with a devil?

“What do you mean ‘yours for eternity’? Do you mean, like, torture?”

The man looks taken aback. 

“Torture such a sweet soul? Now, now, even I’m not THAT cruel. No, you have my word. Should you fail, you’ll simply be mine to have a……..let’s say…..companionship with.”

“You don’t mean—?” she gasps shocked.

“Oh, never! Not unless you were to agree. Romantic and platonic, however, are fair game. Being stuck in amber and this chapel for years and years, after all, can make someone terribly melancholy.”

All of a sudden, she feels a bit of sympathy for him. Trapped in amber AND a chapel with no one. Maybe he’s just really lonely?

“But why me?”

“Little one, isn’t it obvious? You barely have a mean bone in your body. We are rather polar opposites and opposites attract, as you mortals say. And I mean it in the very best way.”

She turns back to the contract.

“You PROMISE this will get me and him out alive?”

“You have my word. Simply follow my instructions and you’ll make it out.”

Hesitantly, Ro takes the blade and, her hand trembling, gently punctures her right pointer finger, giving a little squeak of pain as she does. She places her finger to the contract and writes out her name in blood, taking her time.

_No turning back._

All of a sudden, she hears a small chuckle, which then slowly escalates into devilish laughter and then maniacal satanic laughter. Thunder and lightning crash and strike and Ro finds herself bathed in white light, blinding her vision and then………..

* * *

Rosanna wakes up in a cold sweat to her alarm as well as to a licking sensation on her right hand. 

After gathering her composure and brushing off the strange dream, she turns to see her sweet and adorable little French bulldog Cookie, licking off her right pointer finger. 

“Cookie, what are you doing?” she giggles as she pets her.

She gently pulls her finger away and takes a look at it, wondering why Cookie would be licking somewhere so specific. 

Seeing the finger, her blood runs cold as a pearl of blood forms on it. 

“That’s…….really weird,” she remarks.  
“And creepy.”

Is it just a coincidence? She shrugs it off as she gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom.

* * *

After bandaging up the finger, the rest of her day is pretty normal. She takes Cookie out on her walk. She goes to Starbucks. She meets with her team to experiment with a recipe she’s hoping to make a video on. It’s a pretty standard day.

After her lunch, she does a bit of working out. Today she decides to work on the punching bag. In the middle of her session, she hears a knock on the door. Taking a quick breather, and water break, she heads to the door to find a mailman holding an envelope.

“I have a letter for Miss Rosanna Pansino,” he says with a smile. 

He holds it out to her.

“Oh,” she exclaims with a smile.  
“Thank you.”

He walks off. 

“Have a good day!” she calls after him.

“You too!” he calls back.

She heads back over to the punching bag. Cookie, now curious, waddles over to her and looks up in anticipation. 

“Huh,” Ro exclaims as she looks at the back of the envelope.  
“Weird. There’s no return address. I wonder who sent it.”

Gently she opens the envelope and takes out the letter, monogrammed JG (weird, she remarks), reading

_My friends,_

_I’m going on an extraordinary adventure, and I am in need of your help, and so are hundreds of others. This is not an invitation to a ball or a dinner party. It is an invitation to embark on a dangerous mission._

Dangerous mission? Ro’s already hesitant on the idea, but decides to read on.

_It may sound impossible, but there’s a town trapped in the 1970s,_

“A town trapped in time?” she exclaims.  
“This sounds like something out of sci-fi or fantasy.”

_and very soon everyone in it will be dead, unless we do something about it. There’s a dark seance that will take us back in time, but for it to work, you must choose a personality reminiscent of that era and dress like them._

“Do you know of any 1970s personalities?” she asks Cookie.

The cute lil French bulldog just looks up at Ro, tilting her head slightly.

“Me neither.”

_Remember, nothing from the modern world can come with you. The people of Everlock——_

That’s what stops her. Everlock. Isn’t that the town that man told her about in her dream? 

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” she shrugs before reading on.

_The people of Everlock will know their role and their place, but you will be operating without knowledge or understanding of what’s to come. This Friday the 13th, the doorway to Everlock will be open, and we will only have that one night to complete our mission._

_Joey_

Wait.

Joey.

As in Joey Graceffa?

As in Joey “who’s been missing for months now” Graceffa?

Is this really from him? The handwriting is rather familiar. Maybe he DOES need help.

“Don’t worry, Joey,” she says determined before raising a fist in the air.  
“I’m on the way!”


	2. The Green Coat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ro, with a little help from Matt, decides on her role for the event.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALMOST DONE WITH MY ONLINE CLASS!

Research time. 

Rosanna’s not really sure what kind of personalities would be a part of the 1970s, but she’s determined to find out. 

But after searching the internet tirelessly, she can’t seem to find anything that intrigues or fits her. 

However, she’s persistent and decides that there’s more than just the internet. There’s also help that’s much closer to home, help that would know her best. 

She dials a number on her phone and waits for it to pick up.

 

_“Hey, Ro! What’s up? How are you?”_

Matthew Patrick, aka MatPat or Matt, enthusiastically greets her on the other end of the line. She and Matt are like Mabel and Dipper Pines from  _Gravity Falls._ One could potentially mistake them for siblings. 

 

“Hey, Matt! I’m doing pretty good. How about you?”

_“I’m good. Hey, did you get a letter from Joey Graceffa, by any chance? Maybe about a……mission of some sort?”_

“That’s actually why I called. I’m stuck on what personality I should go for. I wanna be something that would fit my personality. Any ideas?”

_“You know, it’s funny. I actually stumbled across this when I was doing research for my OWN role. I decided on the Detective.”_

Rather fitting.

_“Anyway, I came across an archetype called the Jet Setter. I couldn’t find any baking ones, so I think this is pretty close to you.”_

“What’s a Jet Setter?”

_“Jet Setters were pretty much, like, the Socialites of the decade, you know? They were really fashionable, did a lot of traveling, and I suspect had a lot of friends. They seemed pretty charismatic and friendly. I can text you some costume ideas if you want.”_

“That’d be awesome!”

* * *

Later that week, Ro decides to go shop at a few thrift stores. for something to wear that’s close to what a Jet Setter might wear. When she gets to the petite section of the first store, her eyes fall on a cute plaid dress with an almost-periwinkle collar and sleeves. Taking a look at the photos Matt sent her, it looks pretty on-par to what a Jet Setter might wear. 

Next she finds a pair of adorable Beige Platform Oxfords. Not exactly functional, but she can’t seem to find anything else that would match. Soon enough, a pair of yellow tights comes into her vicinity in the second store. Alongside of it, an adorable yellow beret. 

“These look nice,” she remarks.  
“But I feel like the outfit needs a cool color to balance it out. Maybe I can find a coat or something.”

“Excuse me,” a voice squeaks anxiously. 

Ro turns around to find a girl a little taller than her, a bit wider, blonde haired, and wearing glasses. When their eyes meet, the girl starts crying. 

“Are you okay?” Ro asks.

The girl nods, pursing her lips.

“I’m just….I know who you are and your videos make me smile when I’m sad and you just have such an adorable and infectious personality and….ahhh!”

Ro can’t help but blush a little. 

“You’re so sweet,” she says smiling.  
“Can I have a hug?”

The girl nods and they hug briefly. After a few moments, the girl calms down.

“So what exactly brings you to this thrift store?” she asks.

“I’m looking for some clothing for this event my friend Joey invited me to. I have most of what I need, but I think a coat would complete it. Sort of a 70s style coat. One with a cooler color, I have a bit of yellow in the outfit and I wanna balance it out.”

All of a sudden, the girl gasps. 

“I actually saw something that might work!” 

Ro follows the girl to another aisle in the petite section. She pulls out a forest/kelly green coat with white-ish poofs on the sleeves and on two little strings.

“It’s perfect!” Ro exclaims.  
“Thank you so much, uh, sorry. I didn’t ask you for your name.”

“Lydia.”

“Lydia. That’s a pretty name. Well, thank you, Lydia!”

They chat a little bit more. Lydia then wanders off after a farewell and Ro goes to the checkout. 

When she gets home and lays out her ensemble, that’s when it hits her. 

“Wasn’t that what I was wearing in that dream?”

Little bit scary, but she comes to the conclusion that maybe she’s seen the outfit somewhere and her subconscious put it together. Either way, she’s got only two days until the 13th. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so, I inserted myself into the story, but it's my AU. Fight me.
> 
> (Please don't fight me.)
> 
> Next Chapter:  
> The day finally arrives and Ro discovers she may not be out of the woods yet.


	3. Everlock-Bound, in more ways than one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day's arrived and Rosanna takes a drive with her friend Matt to where Everlock is supposed to be. It takes them a ritual to get to when Everlock is, but once there, Rosanna discovers a grim and shocking result because of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M FINISHED WITH MY ONLINE CLASS!
> 
> But I've also got a TON of writing projects I'm in the middle of, including a version of season 3 that I thought up back in February. If you wanna check it out, it's on my profile.
> 
> In other news, I smell like sunscreen because I've been at a carnival for a small amount of time on Saturday and Sunday. 
> 
> And they had a ferris wheel that low-key looked like a satanic death trap that would be on ETN. It was a ferris wheel with metal cages instead of benches or carriages and the cages would rock and almost flip upside-down. I was tempted to go on it. 
> 
> And there were dogs. There were a lot of dogs.
> 
> They didn't have a karaoke contest, which they did have one year and then it was just karaoke for a year or two and then I guess it just disappeared altogether. 
> 
> Yes, I did enter the karaoke contest the year that they held it.  
> No, I didn't win.  
> But then again one of the judges was my middle school choir teacher who is known for playing overt favorites. And I don't think I was one of her favorites.
> 
> Anyway, enough of me rambling about my life. Here's the next chapter!

 

Soon enough, it’s Friday the 13th and close to time for her to go. She spends a good portion of the time before she leaves cuddling with Cookie. She wants so badly to take her along, but she’s technically from the modern world and the letter said that nothing from the modern world could come with her. And even though she knows Cookie’s in good hands with her sister Molly and her dog Henry watching her, she misses her baby girl already. 

“Don’t you think it’s kind of weird?” Molly asks as she and Ro wait for Matt’s car to arrive and as Cookie licks Ro’s finger where she was pricked. 

“What is?”

“Joey doesn’t talk to you, or anyone, for months and then one day, you get a letter from him just out of the blue?”

“You know, I gotta admit. It’s kinda strange, but this is Joey we’re talking about. He’s pretty strange, like me.”

“But hasn’t he been doing this on and off?”

“I dunno,” Ro shrugs.  
“I mean, Lauren said she was going to a ball he was hosting a few months ago. And then, the year before that, Justine went to a dinner party he was hosting. It’s strange, though.”

“What is?”

“I haven’t heard from either of them since then.”

“Do you think they’re dead?”

Ro looks at Molly in shock.

“I hope not! That’s kind of a morbid thought.”

All of a sudden, there’s a knock on the door and Molly opens it to reveal a wild MatPat in a mustard-yellow tie over a nice white shirt, brown pants, shoes, and leather jacket, and a pair of sunglasses.

Ro gives Cookie a final kiss and cuddle for the night and her sister and Henry a hug before jumping into MatPat’s light-blue vintage car. 

* * *

It’s quite a drive to this place, but Ro and Matt make the best of it by listening to show tunes and nerding out over various things, the usual. It helps pass the time and before they know it, they’ve arrived.

Matt gets out and Ro follows as they make their way down a hill until they get to a fire pit; they’re the first ones there. Now, as Joey instructed in the directions to the place, they wait.

“Why’s he having us meet here?" Matt wonders.  
"Seems kind of strange to meet us in the middle of nowhere.”

“Maybe this is where the town used to be,” Ro hypothesizes.  
“Or didn’t he say something about a seance? Maybe we need to be by a fire pit?”

Matt shrugs. The two of them wait some more. Next to arrive are Teala Dunn, Colleen Ballinger, and Manny Mua. 

“Girl, you look so cute!” Manny compliments Ro.  
“I especially love the jacket. We’re twinning!”

In his forest/emerald green blazer and pants, he’s too right. 

“Thanks! This girl who found me in one of the thrift stores I went to helped me pick it out. I thought a cool color would help balance out the yellow.”

Moments later, a girl in a pink one piece with a matching headband, a bleach blonde bun, and tall white boots comes strutting down the hill towards the group.

“Oh my God! You have no idea how hard it was to get here on roller skates,” she huffs as she makes her way around the fire pit.

“Nikita!” Manny exclaims.   
“Girl, you look fab!”

“I know,” Nikita Dragun smirks and flipping her hair before turning to the petite cinnamon roll now on her right.

“Oh my God!” she exclaims, nearly squealing.   
“Rosanna Pansino, you look adorable!”

“Aww, thanks!” Ro replies blushing.   
“You look so good in that shade of pink. It really compliments your hair.”

“I try,” Nikita shrugs. 

A few moments pass before two more guys make their way down the hill One is wearing a sort of cowboy style coat in red, white, and blue. The other is wearing a beige jacket with colorful patterns. 

“Hey, what’s up?” the guy in the beige coat asks in a very tranquil tone.  
“I’m JC.”

“I’m Roi!” the second one exclaims enthusiastically.

“Okay,” Matt says.

“So now there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, eight of us here."

“How many of us are there supposed to be?” Teala asks. 

“I heard he sent out nine of these,” Colleen adds.  
“So we’re just waiting on one more.”

“Two, including Joey,” Roi points out.

“Two, including Joey,” she repeats.

Not long after comes a girl in a red sweater, blue jeans, and a brown jacket as well as aviator sunglasses.

“Well,” she remarks.   
“This is definitely a different style than I usually wear. I'm more of a Morticia Addams/funeral-wear/bat-wings----black clothes. I usually wear a lot of black clothes.”

“I don’t think I know you,” Ro pipes up.

“I’m Safiya Nygaard,” the girl introduces.  
“And today I’m taking on the role of the Investigative Reporter.”

“You know what?” Colleen says brightly.  
“That’s actually a good idea. We should introduce ourselves and say what our roles are.”

The group gives a surprisingly enthusiastic sound of agreement.

“Okay, I’ll go first. I’m Colleen and I’m the Disco Dancer.”

“I was wondering why your outfit had so much sparkle,” Nikita adds with a gasp.

“I’m Manny, and I’m the Record Producer, bitches!”

“My name’s Teala and I’m the Super Spy.”

“Interesting choice to give a Super Spy a red coat,” Manny remarks.

“Couldn’t really find any black coats,” she shrugs.

“I’m Matt. I’m the Detective.”

“Name’s Roi and I’m the Daredevil.”

“I already said mine,” Safiya answers kind of awkwardly.

“I’m Rosanna, Ro for short, and I went for the Jet Setter,” she introduces.

“I’m Nikita and I’m gonna be the Troublemaker.”

“Okay,” Manny scoffs.  
“So then what’s your role, bitch?”

Nikita gives him a glare that’s both friendly and intimidating, causing the group, including her and Manny, to burst out laughing.

“JC. Hippie," JC finishes off calmly.

“So then we’re just waiting on one more,” Nikita remarks.  
"We're just waiting for Joey."

“What if he doesn’t come?” Colleen asks worried.

“He’ll be here soon. I’m pretty sure,”  JC shrugs.

* * *

Five hours pass. Still no sign of Joey. By now, the group decides to light a fire, somehow they had matches, and Nikita’s put on a black coat.

“I wish someone had brought food,” Roi exclaims. 

“Yeah,” Colleen agrees.  
“I think Joey should’ve told us if we needed to bring food. I didn’t realize we’d be here around this pit for five hours."

This sparks some laughter from the group.

“Where’s Joey?” Matt chuckles.

“I haven’t seen him in a while,” Ro answers.  
“Like, couple months.”

It concerns her slightly that this phrase doesn’t worry her or anyone as much as it should.

“We’ve been here for, like, five hours,” Manny exclaims.  
“That’s just bad hosting."

“I thought this was just a collab,” Colleen adds.  
“Like, I thought this was just gonna be a collab. I didn’t realize it was, like, a full-on mission in the 70s.”

This causes some laughter and exclamations from the group.

“Why’d he have us meet him here?” she continues.  
“Is THIS the town?”

“This is clearly NOT the town,” Matt explains with a chuckle. 

“I mean, I love the 1970s,” Safiya adds.  
“I’m just here to see, you know, like, can we actually time travel?”

“I think we’ve waited long enough,” Colleen announces.

“Yeah, I agree,” Manny nods.

All of a sudden, a voice appears out of the blue.

“You guys came!”

It’s like music to Ro’s ears. That’s Joey’s voice! She turns around to see him in a white shirt with vertical stripes and an ascot around his neck, very reminiscent of Fred from  _Scooby Doo._

“Joey!” the group cheers.

“Oh my God! You came!” Ro exclaims as she hugs him tightly. 

“I didn’t know if you guys were gonna come or not!”

“We’ve been waiting for hours!” Colleen half-complains.

The group kind of overlaps each other, making it a bit difficult for Ro to pin down a specific comment until finally, one person’s loud enough.

“We’ve been really worried about you!” Safiya tells him.

“Thank you!” Joey gasps.

“So, tell us about this town,” Matt implores him.

“Yeah,” Teala agrees.

“Uh, so, I need your help,” he begins.   
“I really don’t know much about how we get there, but I was given this, and we need to save this town.”

That doesn’t really tell the group much, but right now, Ro’s just glad to hear and see him again. 

He holds up a leather bag with a rather strange symbol on it. It must be the “this” he was referring to.

“Apparently,” he continues.  
“There’s stuff in here that’s gonna help us get into the town to save it.”

“Let’s open it,” Safiya says.

Inside the bag, they find a scroll, to which Matt sarcastically remarks “Not ominous at all,” some salt, and a log of some sort, to which Nikita remarks “This smells expensive.”

“All right, I’ve got the instructions,” Safiya announces.   
“It says  _‘Those who desire to go back in time and enter the town of Everlock must be inhabited by a spirit that once lived there.’_ ”

“Hold up,” Matt exclaims.

They need to have a spirit possess them? Ro’s not a fan of this, but she’s also not a fan of abandoning her friends, especially because it seems like Joey really needs their help.

Everyone starts talking at once, but Manny’s the one to calm them down.

“You know, like, I’ve had a tapeworm. I’ve had things living in me before. It’s not that bad.”

“You guys, I think it’s gonna be fun,” Nikita agrees.  
“Like, you can just get in it?”

“It would, it would!” 

“Okay, guys, come on!” Joey exclaims with some urgency in his voice.  
“We don’t have much time!”

“Okay, okay,” Matt says.  
“Sorry, sorry.”

The directions say that they have to make a circle of salt, put five crystals at the head of the circle, hold hands, and chant something.

“You guys ready?” Joey asks once they've finished.

“Yeah,” the group agrees as he looks at what he needs to read.

_“‘From across the veil of death, I request your presence, so I might make wrong things right. Enter into that I might see the doorway to Everlock.’”_

As he finishes, little green wisps emerge from the flames and fly around the group. They’re kind of cute. But then all of a sudden, the fire bursts into green smoke; all Ro can see is green light and all she can hear is screaming, especially her own screaming, as something enters her body. It’s kind of warm and tingly, but there’s also a bit of a cold shiver in her spine, moving upwards and into her brain.

A few moments later, it stops. The fire’s returned to normal and everyone’s trying to catch their breath. 

“That wasn’t bad,” Matt shrugs.  
“It was warm. And tingly. “

There’s a murmur of agreement within the group. Ro begins to agree, when in her head, she hears it.

_**We meet again, little one.** _

And her blood runs cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> Ro, now able to communicate with the voice from her dream, discovers a shocking truth about the woman who welcomed the group to Everlock.


	4. Everything is Not What It Seems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ro, now with the voice from her dream inside of her mind, tries to settle herself at this cute retro carnival. 
> 
> Little does she know about what this town has in store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blah.  
> I have so many projects I wanna do.

 

Shock. 

That’s all Ro feels when she hears his voice in her mind. 

_This isn’t real,_ she thinks.  
_There’s just no way that that dream——_

_**Was reality?**  _The voice finishes.  
_**Let me prove it to you. Your friend is about to see something that you might consider to be rather…..odd.**_

“Guys,” Joey exclaims.  
“Look, over there!”

“No!” Roi gasps.

Turning around, Ro feels like gasping as well. There’s a bridge that lights up on both sides until it reaches the other end. And, as if by magic, an archway appears with a red curtain and a sign over it that reads  _Town of Everlock._

_Everlock…..that was the name of the town mentioned in the dream._

_**You’re rather perceptive, aren’t you, little one?** _

The group advances towards the arch, making conversation with one another when out of the blue, a clown with curly, blue hair and makeup reminiscent of the band KISS, wearing a half-black, half-checkered suit with a white collar and giant, red, spherical buttons in the center, pops out from behind the curtain, giving the group a rather good startle and causing them to scream in fright.

“Oh my God!” Manny shrieks.

“It’s your lucky day!” she gasps enthusiastically while doing dramatic gestures and movements.  
“Because the carnival’s in town! Ha ha ha!"

_**Lovely, isn’t she?**  _the voice chuckles.  
**_One of my favorites to watch._**

Ro isn’t quite sure how to respond. She wants to give this clown woman a chance, but something about her seems……off. She can’t quite put her finger on it as the clown woman continues elaborating on the acts of the carnival.

“We have a strong man, a snake woman, dolls with knives. It’s like Bloody Christmas everyday.”

She gives out another psychotic laugh. The group in response, gives a rather discomforted laugh.

_Bloody Christmas?_ Ro wonders as a slight chill runs through her.

**_Her favorite holiday and mine as well. Though I suppose you might call it two holidays. It’s on the 21st and 22nd of June._ **

“We will be friends soon!” the clown woman declares.  
“I’ve got a good feeling about that."

Ro’s not so sure. 

“Enjoy the ride!” she squeals as she opens the curtain. 

Based on the clown woman and the attractions she listed off, Ro was expecting some sort of dark, creepy, Tim-Burton-style attraction. 

But instead there’s this cute retro carnival with neon lights and bright colors and everyone looks like they’re having a good time. So, needless to say, she’s pleasantly shocked. 

“Oh, look, there’s rides! This is cute, though,” Colleen exclaims excited.  
“What’s there to save? This all looks fun. What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t bad,” Matt agrees.

All of a sudden, they see a woman holding a live spider in her mouth and the group starts to scream. 

“Absolutely not! Absolutely not!” Teala shrieks as the spider climbs on the woman’s face.  
“Absolutely not!"

Rosanna definitely agrees, but she's more relieved by how nice this carnival looks, so the spider isn’t too much to freak out over. 

“Hey there, skirt,” a young man with slightly-long brown hair and a five o’clock shadow greets Nikita suavely.  
“How are you?"

“Hi, how are you, guy?” the Troublemaker replies as she swaggers away with her hips swaying.

“Where are you going tonight, huh?”

“Who are you?” Teala asks him.

“I’m Mortimer,” he introduces.

“He’s lying!” Roi accuses him teasingly.

All of a sudden, Mortimer reaches into his coat and produces a pink rose. Nikita eyes it longingly.

**_I’m sure she’s rather interested to get him to bed._ **

_I’m sure that wasn't really necessary,_ Ro thinks, a little creeped out.

“Why don’t you just play some games and have a good time before my mom shows up, you know?”

“Are you a mama’s boy?” Nikita inquires.

“My mom is the mayor.”

“Oh.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

It seems the group is rather reluctant to talk to this Mortimer guy. Ro can feel the awkwardness, but thank goodness for MatPat who breaks the silence.

“Guys, free popcorn over here,” he announces.

“Where?” Manny asks, his eyes lighting up.

“Right over here.”

While the others go disperse amongst the carnival, Ro goes over to JC.

“Aren’t we supposed to be saving this town?” she asks a little concerned.

The Hippie shrugs this off.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I mean, there’s free food, there’s free games,” he answers nonchalantly.  
“Let’s settle down. You know, the problems will come to us. We’re fine.”

Ro nods. Maybe JC’s right. There doesn't seem to be any danger right now. If there's any danger, it'll present itself with time. So for now, she should enjoy what time she has for fun. Letting her guard down, she looks around the carnival wondering what to do first. 

* * *

About half an hour passes, Ro’s having so much fun. She’s had some cotton candy, played a few games, and currently she’s on one where she has to get three balls into the clown’s mouth. There’s an adorable, purple stuffed puppy that she’s got her eyes on. But, unlike with ring toss, her skills aren’t the best.

“You’ve got this, Ro,” Matt encourages her as he holds onto a stuffed pink horse which is apparently named Blanche. 

“It’s all about angle and how much force you apply. You’re doing good with throwing underhand, now just apply a tiny bit more force in your swing.”

Standing beside him are Colleen and Roi.

“I’d just go for it,” Roi shrugs.

“You can do this!” Colleen tells her.

Ro tries again, but this time she overshoots, hitting the clown on the poster in its right eye. She’s beginning to get slightly frustrated.

**_Perhaps I can be of some assistance._ **

Assistance? Ro’s not sure if she should be worried or not.

_What do you mean?_

There’s no response. Unsure of what’s happening, Ro tries to exert a little less than the same amount of force, but she finds that she can't exert more than a certain amount of force or have her arm go further than a certain distance. She keeps trying, covering them as practice swings, but soon it's like her arm is being control by someone else. Finally she decides to go for it. Her swing is a little more graceful and slightly more gentle. But this one makes it into the clown’s mouth. 

“You’re doing it!” Matt cheers.

She gives it two more shots and boom, boom! Before she knows it, Ro’s made three perfect shots into the clown’s mouth. The three of them cheer for her. Ro, meanwhile, is just plain confused.

_Was---was that you?_

**_Surprised, little one?_ **

“I think this pretty little miss was eyeing this adorable puppy, wasn’t she?” the vendor asks her as she pulls out the purple puppy.  
“Here you are."

Ro, unsure of what just happened but also excited because she just won a carnival game, takes the puppy and gives it a hug. Suddenly a scent hits her nose. 

“What’s that smell?” she asks, tilting her head. 

She does a few Cookie-style sniffs until her nose leads her to the head of the plush pup.

“The puppy smells like blueberries!” she exclaims excitedly.

She turns the puppy around so that their eyes meet.

“I think I’ll call you Blueberry,” Ro tells the pup.  
“Is that….is that okay with you?”

The dog gives no response. And neither does the voice.

“I think Blueberry’s a great name,” Matt smiles. 

“Okay,” Ro nods.

“So what’s next?” Colleen asks.

“Oh,” Matt gasps in excitement.  
“We gotta—We gotta—“

All of a sudden, Roi lets out a startled yell.

“Jesus Christ!” Colleen exclaims.

“Sorry,” Roi apologizes.  
“She scared me.”

Ro turns around a sees a woman with long, black hair in what appears to be fortune telling wardrobe or something. She’s kind of creeping around and looks a bit worried, which jogs Ro’s memory as to why they’re here.

“Hmm,” she wonders.  
"Let's use my social skills as a Jet Setter and see what’s going on here."

She takes a deep breath and approaches her.

“Hello,” she greets her in a friendly manner.  
“Bonjour!”

The woman seems eager to cut to the chase.

“The stars,” she gasps in a low voice.

“The stars?” Colleen asks puzzled.  
“No stars. City lights."

“She’s talking about the stars again,” Matt notices.

“The stars have been talking to me,” the woman continues with a hint of breathiness in her tone.

_Strange, but let’s roll with it._

“So what are they saying?” Ro inquires.

“All kinds of secrets,” the woman whispers as she leans in close.

“Are they friendship secrets, they light-hearted sec—?”

Something about this woman’s demeanor makes Ro realize that maybe this isn’t just an act.

“Dark secrets?” she finishes.  
“Dark——Serious?”

“He’s coming,” the woman continues.

“Wh-Who’s coming?” Roi asks intensely.

“He’s coming,” Ro reiterates as the woman slowly reaches out for Blueberry.

“You can have it.”

“The dog?” Colleen assumes confused as the woman begins to pet it.

“Oh, no, don’t—“ Matt begins.

“No—that’s Blueberry,” Ro clarifies.

“This is Blueberry,” Roi agrees.

“Blueberries are coming?” Colleen questions. 

Ro hears a chuckle from within her mind.

_What’s so funny?_

_**Just the image you conjured in your mind.** _

She can’t blame him. After Colleen said that, she just imagined giant blueberries raining down upon the carnival. 

“You should go ride the ferris wheel,” a voice behind her suggests.

Ro, in shock, turns around to see a girl who is wide-set, with blonde hair and glasses. She’s wearing a plaid dress, a bit similar to Ro’s.

“What?” Colleen asks confused. 

“You two,” the girl continues, pointing at Matt and Ro.  
“Should go ride the ferris wheel.”

“Wait. I’ve….I’ve seen you before,’ Ro notes.   
“What’s your name?”

“Lydia,” the girl introduces, causing Ro’s eyes to go wide.  
“I’ve never seen you before. You should go ride the ferris wheel.”

“No, I—I’m sure you have,” Ro insists.

“You should go ride the ferris wheel,” Lydia repeats.

By this point, Mortimer has joined the party.

“She’s right,” he agrees.  
“I’ve been on the ferris wheel, and the view is great. You can see so much of the town from the top.”

“Why is that—?” Matt begins.

“It might help you to figure out where everything is,” Lydia interrupts quickly.  
“We don’t have paper maps here. Plus one of the benches has a nice, soft blanket you can use in case you get cold.”

“C’mon,” Mortimer insists with a smile.   
“I’ll show you two where it is.”

Ro, puzzled and trying to piece together whether or not this girl is some sort of time traveler, follows Matt and Mortimer over to the giant ferris wheel. 

**_When was the last time you rode a ferris wheel, little one?_ **

_I can’t remember._

As they get on the loading dock, Ro waves, and then takes Blueberry’s paw and waves to the others. As Lydia’d said, there’s a little blanket on their seat and it’s adorable. The two of them sit down and get comfy, when Ro feels a little off-balance.

“Matt, I think there’s something under this blanket,” she tells him as the lap bar is pulled downward. 

As she shifts to the right, Matt reaches under the blanket and pulls out

“A newspaper?” Ro questions.

“It was published not too long ago.”

**_Maybe you should give it a read._ **

Matt, unbeknownst to him, is way ahead of the voice.

_“The Clowns Here Kill,”_ he reads as they begin to ascend on the wheel.

“No,” Rosanna gasps in fright.

_“The Killer Clown Clan strikes again, much to no one’s surprise,”_ he continues.  
_“Four major players of the clan shown here. Be warned.”_

“Matt, look,” Ro exclaims as she points to the clown on the far left of the photograph.  
“That’s the clown who welcomed us to Everlock.”

“We gotta warn the others,” Matt urges, before raising his voice.  
“Hey guys!” 

“Hey, Matt!” Colleen yells up to him happily.

“How’s the view?” Roi adds.

“Don’t trust the clowns!” 

“You guys—!” Ro tries.

“What?” Colleen yells up to them.

“Great, they can’t hear us,” Matt sighs as they begin to reach the top.

“I am NOT having fun,” Ro exclaims fearfully as she grabs Blueberry tightly.

“I’m not having fun either.”

They prepare to descend when all of a sudden, the ride stops, leaving the two of them suspended above the town of Everlock.


	5. It's Showtime!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ro, stuck on top of the ferris wheel, learns the hard way just how much trouble Everlock is really in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH! The season finale is tomorrow!

 

“Wait, are you stuck?” Colleen calls.

“Are you stuck?” Roi echoes.

Ro tries to lean forward to call out to them.

**_I wouldn’t do that if I were you._ **

All of a sudden, the seat begins to rock, causing Ro to scream.

“Oh Go-! Oh Jesus!” Matt exclaims before putting an arm around her.   
“Okay, don’t lean forward.”

Soon he sees Joey going towards a booth, which he remembers has the clown that greeted them coming into Everlock.

“No, Joey,” he yells.  
“Don’t trust her! Joey!”

Ro, meanwhile, keeps looking at the newspaper.

“It’s no use,” Matt sighs.  
“They can’t hear us.”

**_Pity._ **

Ro hears a chuckle coming from inside of her mind.

_How is this supposed to get Joey and I out of this town? How are Matt and I supposed to get down from here?_

_**Patience, little one.** _

His voice is rich in condescension, but Ro keeps her temper controlled.

After a while, Joey walks away from the booth, and it looks like he has something in his hands.

“What’s that?” Ro asks.  
“That thing that Joey’s got."

“I don’t know,” Matt shrugs.  
“Looks kinda small and like a cube. Maybe like a box of some sort.”

All of a sudden, an airhorn sounds, causing Ro to jump, startled. In turn the seat rocks a bit. Then, from the balcony of a building, comes a woman with jet-black, long hair and a charismatic smile. In her right hand is a bullhorn.

“Is that…..the mayor?” she asks.

“Yeah, and Mortimer’s mom.”

“How is that his mom?” Ro wonders.  
“She looks fabulous. She doesn’t look old enough to be his mom.”

They hears whoops and cheers from down below.

“Stunning!” Nikita calls.

“Thank you!” the Mayor announces through her bullhorn.  
“Thank you all for coming out to carnival. It’s our lifeblood!”

“I think you mean it’s sucking our blood.”

Even though Ro can’t really see those on the ground by the building, her stomach drops as she recognizes that voice, the picture of the woman entering her mind’s eye.

“Matt, that’s the woman. The one who was talking about the stars.”

“Yeah.”

“The spell won’t last forever,” the woman continues.  
“And then you-know-who is coming back!”

“Voldemort?” Ro asks Matt a bit jokingly.

“Probably not. Harry Potter wasn't born until the 1980s.”

“Yeah, but weren’t James and Lily around back then?”

“Yeah, but they wouldn’t be in Everlock, probably.”

“I wouldn’t listen to her words,” the Mayor sighs.  
“Please.”

“We’re here to help you!” Joey yells.

“Thank you! Avoid this woman and her nonsense. She’s gypsy trash who lives on the outskirts of town."

Ro’s taken aback by this. 

“She would not be able to get away with that comment in 2018,” Matt remarks, equally as shocked. 

“Never willing to join us,” the Mayor continues with a mocking and matter-of-fact undertone.  
“She’s not to be trusted.”

“Where did you get that?” Ro hears the other woman ask in alarm.

“Calliope!” the Mayor scolds her.

“Not today, Janet!” she hisses in reply before turning away.  
“Do you know what that is?”

Hearing this, Janet gives a remarked laugh.

“It’s a toy,” she scoffs.

“No! That is one of the Carnival Master’s wicked artifacts!”

“It’s a harmless carnival prize,” Janet groans.  
“Somebody please just open it and put this woman’s hysteria to rest.”

This sparks a chorus of “open its” and “don’t do its” from the rest of the guests. Ro can’t really make out who’s on which side, but she tries to weigh in.

“Joey! Don’t open it!” she yells.  
“Joey!”

“He can’t hear us,” Matt reminds her.  
“None of them can hear us from down there.”

**_I wonder what the boy will choose. What do you think, little one?_ **

All of a sudden, cutting shrieks and yells pierce the air, startling the Jet Setter and the Detective. Following that is a hyena-esque cackle. Then silence.

“Matt, what just happened?”

In her mind, the voice cackles in a low and sinister tone, making her blood run cold.

**_Little one, it’s showtime._ **

“Nothing happened. Everything is fine,” Janet assures everyone quickly.  
“Just enjoy the carnival. Honestly, I—“

From her spot on the ferris wheel, Ro watches in horror as a screaming Janet is lifted in the air and throw down off of the balcony, hitting against something hard below, and prompting more screams from the crowd. There’s a clamor from the crowd as they try to process what happened. 

“What’s going on?” Ro gasps.  
“Is she dead?"

Just then, Ro hears a shattering gunshot ring out.

**_And…..action!_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter:  
> The clowns crash the party and Ro and Matt are in deep shit in more ways than one.


	6. Does Fortune Favor the Brave?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A clown massacre leads Ro to discover a shocking secret about the spirit possessing her, she and Matt have to deal with a crappy task, and even clowns think she's adorable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to post. I have a lot of writing projects. I'm also still kinda settling into living in an apartment off campus and whatnot.
> 
> Also, I posted a poem called "The Sweetheart," obviously it's about Ro, and a sort of one-shot called "Lucky Number 12" about what could've happened if the dice of death had rolled a twelve.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

More gunshots pierce the night as Rosanna and Matt look to see a group of clowns emerge from behind a building nearby, cackling demonically and advancing on the screaming crowd. The one in the front has on a teal/light blue jacket and a blue wig.

Ro stares, her hands over her gaping mouth.

"I told you, the clowns!" Matt exclaims in frustration.

Immediately the clowns spring into action, snatching up innocent bystanders, tripping them to the ground, and bashing their heads in.

_**Having fun, little one?** _

That voice......

Ro is beginning to think this voice doesn't just enjoy demonic chaos.

_What is going on?_

**_Just a nice, fun, opener, of course. Bet you can't wait for the second act._ **

_This isn't nice or fun! You told me that you'd get Joey and I out of this!_

**_Patience, little one. I'm doing just that. But in order to make an omelette, you need to kill a few people._ **

_Please go away. I don't want you in my mind anymore._

**_Are you so sure you want me to go, little one?_ **

_Yes, and please stop calling me that!_

**_If you say so._ **

Ro begins to feel relieved. All of a sudden, she feels herself getting light-headed and her vision is becoming blurry. Her strength is draining and she's panicking.

_What's going on?_

No answer. 

_Please help me._

Still no answer. 

_Please stay. Please!_

A moment later,she begins to feel her strength return to her. She gasps for air as Matt grabs a hold of her.

"Ro! Are you okay?" he exclaims. 

"Yeah," she answers wearily.  
"I was.....just a bit lightheaded.....I guess."

_What did you do to me?!_

**_I? I did nothing, little one. You wanted me to leave your mind. I was simply following your will. But now that we know how that turns out, let's follow my will instead, shall we?_ **

It's not a suggestion. It's not a command. It's a threat, and Ro knows it. She opens her mind's ears as the voice continues.

_**You need me to be inside of your mind. I connect you to this time and place. Your appearance here is already an anomaly in the time-space continuum, little one. But since you've stayed for nearly an hour, if I left you or you were to leave before sunrise, you would die.** _

_**Now I can remove myself at any time. Keep that close to you. If you disobey me, I will not hesitate to do just that. And remember our bargain. If you fail to follow my instructions, I own your soul.** _

Chills scurry through Ro's body like mice from a cat. The very thought that he could simply decide that she failed whenever he wished she finds terrifying. 

"Ro," Matt says, jerking her from her conversation.  
"Look."

Below Ro spies a man in a white shirt being lead away by clowns to the van.

"Joey!" she yells out to him.

"They're taking him to the murder van," Mat says matter-of-factly and slightly apathetically.

"They got Joey! They got Joey! Joey!"

"Jo---Oh, this is terrible."

A normally positive person, Ro begins to feel her hope draining. Here she is trapped on a ferris wheel, thankfully with her best friend, her brother from another mother, a demonic entity is inside of her mind, and if he removes himself from her mind, she'll die. Then this entity will own her soul for.....eternity. 

_**And eternity is a very long time, little one.** _

_Why are you listening to my internal dialogue?_

**_Oh no, I consider that to be background noise. It's your memories that I like best. They're so pure and innocent and cute.  Oh, you have a puppy!_ **

_That's Cookie, and if you dare hurt her---!_

**_Oh no, I would never hurt your puppy. My daughter has one of her own._ **

_You have a daughter?_

**_Lucy. She's rather fond of her pup. Humphrey’s his name. He was a stray when she first found him, he was in the trash, rummaging for body parts._ **

_Wait. If you have a daughter, why would you need----?_

**_My previous wife left about fifty years ago. She possessed a girl. The priest tried to exorcise her, but my wife made the girl kill herself. She then went on to possess another woman and then, after that, one of your own._ **

_Wait. So we're not---?_

_**The first? Of course not.**   
_

_But then why did your wife leave?_

**_She told me she was tired of chasing the Society. In all fairness, I was going to banish her anyway. She became too wild for me. Lucy takes after her mother, but she is wild enough and no more. But I need a calmer, sweeter soul to balance things. To show people that there’s light in the dark. That there’s nothing to be afraid of._ **

_But how did you find me?_

There's no response, except for a malicious chuckle.

_**You'll find out soon enough.** _ ****

* * *

A few moments go by, though to Rosanna it feels like the eternity she risks being owned by a demonic entity, until the clown massacre dies down. 

"Is it just Joey in the van?" she asks Matt.

"No, they've got Colleen and Roi trapped in there as well. And the clowns are surrounding it."

All of a sudden, an idea lights up in her head.

"Why don't we try to distract the clowns so they can get out of the van?" she suggests in a low voice. 

Matt looks back at the van.

"All right, you little shits!" the clown that greeted them crows violently.  
"Get over here!"

"That's not a bad idea," Matt admits as he turns back to Ro.

"I mean, what do you think? Are you pretty impressed?"

Ro's beginning to feel a bit confident and hopeful again. 

"Oh, man, we're having fun," the lead clown says maddened with sadistic glee as another clown gives a psychotic cackle.

"Throw something to distract them," she tells Matt.  
"Throw your horse."

"No!" he says alarmed at the proposition.

"Let's go hurt some people!" the lead clown roars as the others laugh.

_I really don't want to do this, but there might be no other choice._

She gives her stuffed dog an affectionate squeeze. 

"Fine," she sighs.  
"You won't do it, I will."

Reluctantly she pulls out the plush dog. 

“Bye, Blueberry," she says before she yeets him from the ferris wheel. 

“What are you doing?” Matt exclaims as Blueberry lands somewhere on the ground.

“Oh, I got a gift!” one of the clowns squeals.  
“It’s a puppy!”

As the clown gives out a psychotic laugh, Ro feels regret piling inside of her.

“Okay,” she gasps ruefully.

“Go let them down now!”

“Matt—“

“Oh, shoot,” Matt sighs.  
“Wait, no. No.”

“Matt, that’s us, now.”

There’s a hiss as the ferris wheel starts back up again. 

“That’s us, that’s us,” she repeats as it begins to descend.

“Oh no, oh no.”

As they slowly descend, they see the clown dead center, waiting for them.

“I wanna taste you!” she growls.

“Oh, damn it,” Matt groans.  
“Hey.”

**_I do hope your detective friend’s not afraid of conflict._ **

“Feel that sledgehammer!” 

The cart descends to the platform and stops, where Matt takes his time getting off. Ro decides to follow suit.

“Oh, oh, I’m having a really hard time getting out of here,” he announces.  
“Oh, this is so hard.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Ro gasps as she steadies herself.

"We’re not stalling at all.”

“Not stalling,” Ro repeats. 

All of a sudden, there’s a loud shout and the two of them look to see that the star woman they met earlier, named Calliope, whacking the clown in the legs.

“Yes,” she exclaims, relieved that she’s come to their rescue.  
“Yes, yes, yes!”

“Yes, thank you,” Matt adds as Calliope whacks the clown in the head with a crowbar. 

“Thank you, thank you!"

With a groan, the clown drops to the ground. Calliope stumbles a bit, trying to catch her breath.

“She’s a huge bitch,” she pants before regaining composure.  
“There’s no time to lose. This way.”

The three of them head towards a red and white striped tent when Ro remembers the reason they got off. She runs over to the spot where the clown was, only to find that Blueberry is gone! Her heart sinks. 

“Ro!” Matt calls out to her from the entrance to the tent.

Panting, Ro follows him and Calliope is close behind. Matt takes a look inside the tent, in case any of the clowns have an ambush prepped for them. Fortunately, there’s nothing that would indicate anything of the sort.

“Okay, I think we’re good,” Matt announces.

His eyes fall on Calliope and his face lights up before wrapping her in a hug.

“Hey! Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!”

“Thank you,” Ro agrees. 

“No need,” Calliope assures them.

“So what’s our next move?” Matt asks.

**_I wonder if the newspaper holds a clue, little one._ **

Ro looks down at her and Matt. Sure enough, they’re still holding the newspaper and blanket. 

“Matt,” she tells him.  
“Matt, check the newspaper. There might be something there.”

Shrugging he unfolds it and they begin to investigate it. 

“Is that a joker hat?” Calliope asks, pointing to a part of the newspaper. 

Sure enough, it is, and the three of them soon find another, and another, and finally one more.

“There’s a bunch of joker hats,” Ro informs them.  
“There’s four joker hats.”

“So what would that mean?” Calliope asks.

“Maybe around here?” Matt suggests as he begins to look around.

Ro decides to do the same. She soon begins to notice that the tent has a menagerie of miscellaneous items; there are a ton of boxes, there’s a toilet, some gigantic heads, a giraffe piñata, it’s very odd. 

“Wait,” Matt exclaims as he picks up a pillow.  
“I got one symbol. So it’s not actually a hat. It’s a symbol.”

He flips it over to the other side, and sure enough, there’s a joker hat symbol on it. She decides to look for the second symbol. Immediately her eyes fall on the giraffe piñata. On the left front leg is one of the symbols. With a little help from Matt, she grabs it and finds that it’s larger than herself. Placing it on the ground, she wonders something.

_Maybe there’s a clue inside of the piñata._

_**Or is it also an excuse for you to get your anger out, little one?** _

_No, it’s not._

There’s an amused chuckle.

**_Oh, you’re adorable! Are you actually trying to deny a thought to someone who can access any part of you, including your thoughts?_ **

She gives an internal, frustrated groan, prompting another amused chuckle. 

**_There’s a bat near the back left corner of the tent._ **

Ro turns around and finds that there is indeed a bat. 

“Matt, maybe there’s something inside of the piñata,” she suggests.  
“There’s a bat right there.”

“It’s worth a try,” he shrugs.  
“Give it a go.”

“Yeah!” she says pumped.  
“Let’s do this!”

Calliope seems to come back to the moment. It looked like she was a bit spaced out, but now she notices Ro carrying the bat and heading for the piñata.

“There’s a bat, perfect,” she exclaims.

“Ro’s got some repressed rage from being stuck on the ferris wheel,” Matt warns her as Ro raises the bat.  
“I’d watch out.”

As Calliope backs up, Ro takes a swing and whacks the piñata hard.

_I’m sorry, little guy. But also not sorry._

“Oh!” Matt exclaims.  
“Good swing!”

“There it is,” Calliope encourages.  
“There it is.”

Ro begins to imagine that the piñata is the group of killer clowns.

“That’s for taking Joey!” she exclaims with another hit.

“There it is, there it is!” 

“Do one for your dog,” Matt suggests.  
“Do one for your dog!”

“Yeah!” Ro exclaims, thinking of poor Blueberry as she smashes the piñata, making a big enough hole.

She and Matt turn it upside down and shake it, letting the stuff inside fall out. Inside is a colorful array of cotton balls, feathers, and confetti, but sticking out of the crowd is a small, wooden piece with two small silver pegs on it.

“So we need to look inside of the objects,” Matt theorizes. 

He and Ro go for the pillow, ripping it open, an army of white feathers flying out and onto the ground. 

“This is really satisfying, actually,” Matt remarks as he and Ro brush some of the stuck feathers out of the case. 

Suddenly, his hands clasp a fistful of feather and he feels something hard within.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he exclaims as he brushes the feathers away.  
“Wait, wait, wait, wait.”

Finally he sees a piece of wood.

“Yes, yes!”

“But where do the pieces go?” Ro wonders. 

Matt begins to look around some more. Suddenly his eyes fall on a mirror. The frame around it is missing four pieces.

“I think over there,” he says as he points to it.

Calliope’s eyes follow his arm. 

“Yes!” she gasps.

“The frame,” Ro exclaims as the trio approaches it.

They try the first piece. Once they place it in the right spot, a light bulb above the mirror lights up and a bell dings. 

“You see?” Calliope tells them as she points at the top.   
“The light.”

“Are you sure?” Ro asks.

At that moment, they try the second piece, another bulb illuminates, and they hear another ding. 

“Okay, that’s two,” Matt says a bit excitedly. 

They begin to look around some more. Ro debates turning to the spirit inside of her for advice.

**_I’d go with a yes._ **

_Do you have to respond to every single thought I have?_

_**Does it bother you?** _

_A little._

_**Then yes. But if I may, little one, I’d try the trunk to your left.** _

Ro glances to her left and gasps. On top of the trunk is a blue jester cap. 

“Third! It’s inside,” she exclaims as she lifts the lid.   
“It’s inside.”

Once she gets it open, she takes a look around and soon her eyes fall on a small piece of wood, causing her to gasp again. Calliope, who’s looking from her right, also gives a gasp.

“Here it is!” Ro exclaims. 

“Wait, did you find something?” Matt asks as he looks up from his spot.

“Matt, I got another one!”

“Awesome. Great!” he tells her.

She heads over to the mirror and tries one of the remaining two spots. 

“This goes….” she says to herself as the pieces slides in.

The third light illuminates and she hears another ding.

“One more,” Calliope gasps.

“One more,” Matt echoes as he begins to look, but his search comes up empty.  
“One more, nothing at all.”

They search around some more until they cover every place in the tent. Every place, that is, except for one. 

Curious, Ro heads over to the toilet and begins to lift the lid.

“Have we seen anything in the toilet?” Matt asks as he comes to her side. 

The lid is lifted and the trio groans at the sight, and smell, of what is inside. 

“That’s not….” Ro groans disgusted.

“I think it is,” Matt tells her regretfully. 

_Poo, poo, pew, pew. This thing is rank!_

“Oh, but there’s a clue,” Matt groans.

“Aww, Matt.”

He turns to Calliope.

“I’ll keep watch,” she tells them.

“Oh, yeah, uh-huh, yeah,” Matt scoffs sarcastically.  
“NOW you’re gonna keep watch. Sure.”

He turns back to the toilet.

“Great…” he groans.

“It’s gotta be in there,” Ro tells him.

“It does,” he sighs regretfully.

“But…..why don’t we both do it?” she suggests.

“Really? Together?” Matt exclaims. 

“We might as well share this crappy task,” she shrugs before realizing what she just said.

She and Matt burst out laughing.

“Aw! That’s a good one!” he exclaims as the two of them recompose themselves.

“Thanks,” she says.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Matt asks.

“I can get dirty,” Ro tells him, nodding as Matt lifts up the seat and she lifts up her sleeves.

“Okay. Here we go."

“Ooh! Ooh! Okay,” she gags before she finishes pulling up a sleeve and bending down next to Matt.  
“This is teamwork.”

“Here, let’s do it.”

They decide to count together and just dive in.

“One, two, three,” they count.

On three, they reach their hands into the crappy concoction. The second it touches their hands, they’re cringing.

“Oh, God, it’s so—“ Matt gags, sobbing before he can finish. 

“Oh, wow, oh, wow.”

“It’s so gross.”

Reluctantly, Matt starts squeezing the turds as he remembers that the clues have been inside of things. 

“Oh, God!” he sobs as he squeezes them. 

It feels mushy and warm and sticky on his hands. He’s ready to vomit. But fortunately, after a few squeezes, he feels something hard. He gently shakes his hand and finds the last piece.

“Ugh, I got it, I got it,” he gags.

The smell really hits Ro’s nose and she begins coughing. Her eyes begin to water up. 

“Bless you, child,” they hear Calliope tell them.

“No problem.”

They have all four pieces. He begins to step away from the toilet.

“That’s the last light,” Calliope gasps as Ro stands back up and Matt tries to slide behind her.

“I don’t know if the light wants to be installed that way. Here--”

All of a sudden, he hears a squish and his hand touches some cloth. He looks down and sees a stain over forest green.

“Oh. Oh no!” he exclaims shocked and amused.

Ro feels it and she looks appalled.

_He did not just do what I think he did, did he?_

“Did you just get that on my outfit?” she shrieks in anger and absolute disgust.

“I’m so sorry,” he squeaks with laughter.

“Matthew!” 

“Sorry, it was totally not on purpose.”

“Matthew, did you just get that on my outfit?”

She turns her head towards him. He’s in a fit of laughter. Unamused, and frankly quite angry, she stomps her foot. 

“It isn’t funny!” she nearly screams.   
“This coat is vintage, you……you big……….meanie!” 

Inside of her head, someone else is also in a fit of laughter.

_This isn’t funny!_

_**Maybe not to you, but it’s hilarious to me, little one.** _

_I don’t know how to clean a coat like this!_

**_Oh, it’s not just that. Is "big meanie" really the worst insult you could come up with?_ **

“Ro, I swear it was an accident,” Matt gasps, trying to catch his breath.   
“Look, if we get out of this, I promise that I’ll pay to have it cleaned. You won’t have to pay a penny. I’ll pay the full price to have it cleaned." 

_That sounds fair._

**_Ask him for his first-born as well._ **

The voice saying that sounds too eager. 

_I’m not gonna make him give up his family!_

“Okay,” Ro sighs as Matt goes to place the final piece.

Once he does, the last bulb lights up and they hear a series of dings. Ro throws her hands up.

“Four lights!” Matt yells. 

“Yes!” 

“Oh, it opened something! There’s a key.”

“There’s a note and a key,” Ro tells him.

All of a sudden, Matt’s face turns kinda red. He purses his lips and sighs. 

“You know, now that I think about it, in retrospect, we could’ve found a stick or something. Sorry, Ro.”

Ro, meanwhile, goes over to a bed nearby. Using a blanket on the bed, she cleans off her hand and then starts trying to clean her butt from the crap.

“What are you doing?” he laughs.

“I’m trying to get this crap off as much as possible, so that they won’t have as much to clean.”

* * *

About five minutes later, Ro’s still cleaning it.

“You’re good!” Matt insists.  
“Your butt is clean!”

Standing up she gives a final check.

“Okay, let’s get going,” Calliope whispers as they exit the tent. 

Ro steps in front and cautiously peeks out. After that she takes a few steps out when suddenly she hears a shout in her right ear. Turning she jumps slightly and turns to see the clowns. 

Immediately she starts screaming and running.

“No, go, go!” Matt yells.

She hears a thud, but doesn’t bother to look back.

“Calliope, no!” Matt exclaims as he and Ro make a break for the two rows of buildings. 

He sees the clown leader approaching and Matt quickly takes in the buildings to find which one they can hide in; in a second, he spots one called Flint’s Arcade.

“Go!” he shouts over her screaming.  
“Go! Go in there! Go that way!”

Ro immediately turns to the right and runs inside. Matt makes it to the entrance, but all of a sudden, he feels a tight grip on him.

“Gotcha!” cackles a clown in overalls.

“No!” he exclaims.

“Matt!” Ro calls out as she hides under an air hockey table. 

“No! What about Ro? No!”

The clown drags him over to a carousel where he sees that all of the others have been tied up.

“No! What?” he exclaims as the clown thrusts him towards it.

Meanwhile, a trembling Rosanna hides under the air hockey table as the clown leader enters. Suddenly Ro spots a stuffed elephant nearby. She snatches it up and holds it tightly in hopes it might make her less afraid. She holds her breath in the hopes she’s not spotted. The clown leader jets to the table and Ro can see her feet. For an excruciating five seconds, she just stands there before going to the left. 

Ro stays perfectly still when she feels and sees the air hockey table shake twice and then once more. Gradually she begins to feel that someone is behind her and her blood runs cold. 

_Do I want to know what’s behind me?_

_**I certainly do.** _

Almost against her will, she feels herself slowly turning around until she locks eyes with the upside down head of the clown leader.

“Peek a boo!” she cackles maniacally.

Ro begins to scream again and tries to scurry out of the arcade. But just as she gets out from under the table, she feels a tight grip on her shoulders.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” the clown leader growls in her ear, snatching the stuffed elephant.  
“The fun’s only just begun, cutie pie."

As she cackles maniacally, a wider clown with dark pigtails and a bat with nails hammered into it comes inside and the clown leader ushers Ro towards her. 

“She was in there.”

The clown leader hands Ro off to the pig-tailed clown who takes her by the arm and leads her to the carousel.

“Ro!” Matt yells the minute he sees her.  
“What happened? What? No!”

Ro’s too shocked to say anything as the clown drags her to a pole, tying her up, as the others cackle.

“No, no, no!” she hears Teala exclaim.

“Oh, Little Orphan Annie's so cute!” the pigtailed clown gushes at Ro, pinching her cheek slightly. 

Ro shivers and shutters in response.

“Mmm, I can smell your fear!” another clown’s voice oozes.

“Hey, hi,” she hears Matt greet someone awkwardly.

“Get away from her!” Ro hears Joey yell two spots to her left. 

She’s not sure which clown he’s talking to, but hers backs off and Ro breathes a sigh of relief.

**_I wouldn’t breathe so easy just yet, little one._ **

“We want our box back, you filthy cretin!” the clown leader exclaims.

“Well, we don’t have it,” Joey retorts.

“You stole it from us!”

“Who has the box?”

“Mortimer,” Manny answers.  
“Mortimer has it.”

There’s pandemonium as everyone looks for Mortimer, only to find that he’s nowhere in sight.

**_Oh dear. Is your contract going to end so soon, little one?_ **

“Enough!” the clown leader snaps, stunning everyone into silence.

She points a blade at each of them.

“We’re gonna roll our dice of death, and whoever’s number comes up, I gut ‘em. I gut ‘em right here in front of your friends!"

Ro doesn’t like the sound of that. She doesn’t want anyone to be gutted.

**_I dunno. I think it’d be a lot of fun to watch someone’s guts spill._ **

“Unless,” the leader cackles psychotically.  
“Unless, Luke rolls a twelve.”

She gestures to a clown in an orange bowtie holding red dice.

“And then, I let one of you go!”

_Please, please, please roll a twelve!_

Ro’s heart beats at the rate of a humming bird’s wings as the leader approaches another clown holding a box with a red button on it.

“Do you feel lucky?” she growls.

All of a sudden, Ro hears a buzzer and a squeak. The carousel begins to come to life, spinning them round and round, prompting screams and cries. As Luke prepares to roll the dice, it hits her. 

_I might be killed right now._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated using the word "yeets" in this. So I took to Tumblr for an opinion.
> 
> Pretty much everyone said yes. 
> 
> And so I did.
> 
> And to quote Glinda from the musical "Wicked,"   
> I hope you're happy. I hope you're happy now!
> 
> Next Chapter:  
> Whose number will come up on the Dice of Death, and what else is the spirit hiding?


	7. Round and Round

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who will suffer on the Carousel of Pain?

It's pure pandemonium as the carousel spins round and round. Screams pierce the night sky.

"I don't like this, I don't like this!" Teala yells as the clown points her knife at Luke.  
"Oh my God, stop!"

Luke lets the dice roll until they come to a halt.

"Eight!" he calls out.

"Oh my God!" Colleen screams. 

_Eight? Who's eight?_

**_Don't worry, little one._ **

_How? One of us is going to die!_

"Kill her!" the leader spits.

_Her?_

Ro has a moment of doom. She doesn't want to die. She has to get out of this town and take Joey with her! She can't die, not now!

"Oh my God," Nikita screams.  
"You're really gonna kill the pretty one? Of course."

Hearing this, Ro feels a slight sense of relief, but also a sense of guilt. Sure, it's not her they're talking about, but nonetheless, someone's still gonna die. And it's Nikita out of everyone. Ro barely knows her.

"You're all gonna die!" Sally taunts. 

Ro's still clenching her stomach, shuts her eyes, preparing for the absolute worst, when suddenly she hears the rev of an engine. 

"Mortimer!" 

There are screams and gunshots. 

"Get him!"

"Oh my God!"

"I'm a huge fan of this guy now!"

More gunshots and cheering. Then she feels the carousel come to a halt, and someone untying her ropes.

"You okay, beret?" Mortimer's voice asks.

She opens her eyes as her ropes drop to the carousel floor. 

"I'm fine, thank you," she replies eagerly before enveloping him in a hug.  
"Thank you, thank you!"

"I thought we were done!" Manny sighs in relief.

She runs off with the others ("Alright. Still tied up! Cool!" Safiya yells. Ro comes and helps Mortimer with her ropes.) when she spies the dice the clowns left behind.

 _I better take these,_ she thinks as she snatches them up.  
_These could....these could be something._

"Get inside," Joey ushers everyone else.  
"Get inside!"

"Hurry, hurry!" Mortimer agrees.

She dashes into Flint's Arcade along with the others, placing the dice on the table. They find a plank of wood and barricade the door.

"Okay, we're good? Everything's good?" Manny checks. 

"So it looks like we're in this together, huh?" Ro overhears Mortimer talking to Calliope.

"Sure looks like it, pretty boy," she replies with what seems to be a touch of disdain, presumably because of his now-deceased mother's attitude towards her.

**_You'd likely be right about that._ **

Oh good. She'd nearly forgotten that she had a spirit inside of her mind. SO GLAD that she's been reminded of that little detail.

"Okay so what do we have to do?" Colleen asks. 

"That way," Manny directs.

"Okay so what are these?" JC wonders as he picks up the dice Ro brought in.  
"The two dice go where?"

"Oh, guys!" Joey exclaims.  
"I found some celery!"

Leave it to Joey to make a comment like that as he pulls out celery from a fridge in the arcade. 

_But why would an arcade have a fridge?_

"What if we check the journal?" Colleen suggests.

"Journal?" Ro wonders.

"We found the Carnival Master's journal inside the Clown's RV," Joey explains as he picks it up.

Skimming through it, they find entry after entry, but nothing that could help until----

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ro gasps as one page catches her eyes.  
"Go back. That looks like a map!"

They flip it back and they find it's a map of the arcade.

Colleen gasps.

"How did we miss that?" 

"Okay," Teala decides to take some initiative.  
"I think we need to go to the back wall. It looks like there's something."

Matt looks over in the direction.

"A cork board. It's a cork board. Maybe there's something behind it."

Joey pulls from one side and sure enough, they find a locked case.

"There's a secret chest or something," Matt informs the rest of them.

"Maybe that's what the key's for!" Teala gasps.

"Yes, yes!" Ro agrees as Matt sticks the key in the lock, giving it a turn.

They hear a click and it opens revealing two deep square holes.

"Okay, but what goes in it?" Nikita asks.

"Does the dice fit in there?" Teala wonders.

But Matt's one step ahead of her.

"Yes, 100%," Manny agrees.  
"Put the dice in there!" 

Once both are inside, they hear a bell behind them.

_What was that?_

Whirling around, they find a sign above the fridge is now illuminated. The word ON displayed in big capital letters. 

"Is there something in there?" Colleen asks.

"No," Manny gasps in disbelief as Roi pries the door open. 

But sure enough, there is. 

They open the fridge and, boom, there's a hidden entrance to a secret lounge. Everyone starts talking at once. 

"So who's going in first?" Teala asks.

"I mean, I'm short enough," Ro shrugs.

"I'll go in first," Joey volunteers.  
"Like, if that's cool with everyone."

But he's way ahead of them. 

"Guys, get in here!" he exclaims.  
"You've gotta see this!"

They all step inside, one by one. Gasps ring amongst the group. 

"This is insane."

"This is everything! Oh, I like this room way more!"

"This is much better!"

"I  _love_  this room!"

"This is so cool!" Ro gasps.  
"So artsy and peaceful!"

"The furniture's so cute!" gasps Manny.

"Yeah," Roi replies, a little hesitantly.  
"But it's too peaceful. Where are the clowns?"

"Who cares about clowns?" Colleen scoffs happily as she flops down on one of the couches.

"This kind of feels like," Safiya observes.  
"It could be a Brady Bunch Sex Dungeon."

"What would that even be like?" Ro giggles.  
"Like, what would be in it?"

Safiya shrugs.

"I'm guessing this."

"And?"

Safiya considers this, but then her eyes grow wide.

"You know what? I really don't wanna think about it," Safiya chuckles nervously.

_**If only I'd taken over her mind as well. I could see what she conjured in her mind.** _

_THAT'S the most pressing issue to you?_

**_Don't judge me! I'm stuck in a case of amber, okay? It gets boring. Really boring. And when that happens, any sort of thought becomes interesting! Hell, even thinking about lint becomes interesting. LINT._ **

That's not really something Ro's ever considered, but.

_I mean, that's fair._

"Gosh," gasps Matt.  
"It's like the ultimate swinger pad!"

"Look at you go!" Colleen whoops as Joey starts dancing in his seat. 

Ro hops into a groovy-looking ball chair hanging from a chain, swinging around a bit. She might as well enjoy what peaceful time they've got. Who knows when the next disaster is gonna strike?

"Hey look!" Manny exclaims.  
"There's a map."

Interested, Ro hops out and heads for it. 

"That's the town," says Mortimer solemnly, pointing at the map.

"Town of Everlock," Colleen reads.

"So we're here" Joey announces approaching the map.  
" _The cleansing of each artifact will reveal more._ "

"Is this it?" Teala asks incredulously.  
"This can't be it."

"Maybe there's something on the back?" Nikita wonders.

Without a warning, she rips the map off of the wall and flips it over. 

"Oh, bitch," Manny gasps as they bring it over to the center table.  
"We've got a whole story here. Lay it out flat."

"Lay it out, honey!" Teala cheers. 

As Nikita lays out the map and they all sit on the couches, Ro can't help but wonder what exactly they're getting themselves in to. But she has a feeling that something terrible may be coming out of it. 

" _We were too late_ ," Nikita begins.  
_"Even with all of our Society's knowledge, we didn't understand the Carnival Master's dark plan. To save Everlock, we froze it in time to give us a chance to stop him, but we were no match for his wrath. Realizing all was lost, I used the last of my life magic to encase him in an amber prison. But the spell has reached its end. At sunrise, the Carnival Master will be released from his prison and will consume all life in Everlock._

_There are eight corrupted artifacts, which the Carnival Master draws power from. If they can be gathered and cleansed of evil, the Carnival Master will be weakened and can be slain. However, the artifacts are protected, and whenever touched, their evil guardian appears. The final act to cleanse each artifact will require voting on two who must undertake a horrifying challenge that only one will survive._

_By sunrise, if the artifacts have not been cleansed and the Carnival Master slain, everyone in town, including you, will be destroyed."_

 

 

 


End file.
